“吸血鬼”,与“永恒”脱不了关系。永恒的黑夜,永恒的生命,永恒的美艳和永恒的神秘。他们独特的魅力和恐怖让人避之不及却又难以忘怀。于是人们一再向他们投去爱恨交织的眼神,一再在各类作品中探讨他们的存在,他们的秘密。褪去中世纪的衣服,今天他们用新世纪的霓裳装身,外加一双媚眼和一抹红唇,以新姿态向人们娓娓道来一个潜藏千年的故事……
——Mac
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The symptoms are 1)unnerving: a taste for fresh meat—2)rare, if you please; an3)aversion to sunlight; and a passion for 4)spectral-looking, fine-boned 5)rakes. All are indications that the sufferer has been bitten by a 6)vampire.
以下症状令人胆战心惊:嗜鲜肉——可以的话,要半生不熟的;讨厌阳光;特别钟情于外貌“鬼里鬼气”,身材瘦削的放荡公子。这些症状都表明患者被吸血鬼咬过。
Sookie Stackhouse, the young heroine of 7)True Blood on HBO, risks 8)doom whenever she visits with her 9)otherworldly 10)beau. And Oskar, the adolescent 11)misfit of the Swedish art film12)Let the Right One In, a favorite in fashion circles, 13)courts extinction each time he ventures out with Eli, the ageless vampire he befriends.
HBO电视台的连续剧《真爱如血》中,年轻的女主角萨姬•斯塔克豪斯每次与她那“异世界”情郎会面时,都要冒着生命危险。还有,瑞典艺术电影《血色入侵》里的那个孤僻少年奥斯卡——现实中他的形象其实颇受时尚界的青睐——每次跟永不变老的吸血鬼朋友艾莉一起外出时,都要面临灭顶之灾。
Sookie and Oskar are 14)in the throes of vampire lust, a pop-culture 15)contagion being spread via television, films and fiction. What began with the Twilight Saga, the 16)luridly romantic young-adult series by Stephenie Meyer, followed by Twilight, the movie, has been widely accepted.
对吸血鬼的渴望折磨着萨姬和奥斯卡,而这股“吸血鬼热”,作为当下的一种流行文化,正通过电视、电影和小说散播开来。由斯蒂芬妮•梅尔创作,充满“血色浪漫”的青春系列小说《暮色》掀起了一股新潮流,紧跟着是改编自小说的电影《暮色》, 两者引发的“吸血鬼热”已风靡各地。
Is it a wonder?
这是一种奇迹吗?
Rarely have monsters looked so 17)sultry—or so camera-ready. “There is something so still and sexy about these young 18)erotic predators,” said Julie Plec, the writer and executive producer of 19)The Vampire Diaries, a forthcoming series on the CW network based on the popular novels.
很少怪物能看上去如此性感——或者说如此上镜。“这群年轻的嗜血尤物隐隐透露出安静和性感的特质,”《吸血鬼日记》的编剧和执行制作人朱丽叶•普莱克说道。《吸血鬼日记》是CW电视台即将推出的电视连续剧,改编自同名畅销小说。
This generation of undead 20)prowls high school hallways and dimly lighted dance clubs as menacing—and as 21)seductive—as they have ever been. The June premiere of the second season of True Blood, in which Sookie, played by 22)Anna Paquin, is reunited with her 23)fanged beau, drew 3.4 million viewers, making it HBO’s most-watched program since the 24)Sopranos25)finale in 2007.
这一代的活死人游走于中学的走廊里和灯光昏暗的舞厅里,一如从前地散发着危险与诱惑的气息。在六月份首播的《真爱如血》第二季里,由安娜•帕奎因扮演的萨姬和她那长着尖牙的情人团聚了。这吸引了340万的观众收看,使其成为自2007年《黑道家族》大结局播出以来HBO收视率最高的节目。
The style world, too, has come under the vampire’s26)spell. The undead are returning 27)with a vengeance, in part because they “personify real-world anxieties,” said Michael Dylan Foster, an assistant professor in the department of 28)folklore at Indiana University.
时尚界也被这股吸血鬼魔力迷倒。活死人强势回归,这部分是因为吸血鬼是“现实世界中焦虑的化身”,印地安那大学民间传说研究部的助理教授迈克尔•迪伦•福斯特如是说。
“Especially during these post-9/11 times of increased 29)vigilance, representations like the Twilight series reflect a kind of conspiracy-theory mentality, a fear that there is something secret and dangerous going on in our own community, right under our noses.”
“尤其是后‘9•11’时期,四处加强戒备,这一时期的作品,如《暮色》系列小说,反映了一种阴谋论心理,反映了人们的恐惧心理——害怕就在自己的社区里,自己的眼皮底下暗涌着一些不为人知的危险事物。”
Given all that baggage, what keeps vampires so 30)alluring?
考虑到那些精神上的包袱,那还有什么使吸血鬼如此魅力无穷?
One might point to their combination of deathless good looks and 31)decadent sexuality. Their faces, as described in Twilight, “were all 32)devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful. They were faces you never expected to see except perhaps on the 33)airbrushed pages of a fashion magazine.”
有人可能会指吸血鬼身上兼具不老的容颜和颓荡的情色是他们的魅力所在。正如《暮色》里所描述的,“他们的面孔都超乎凡人般地惊艳。这些面孔,你也许只能在经过润饰的时尚杂志上才可以看到。”
Vampirelike glamour figures strike 34)come-hither poses in a flurry of recent fashion publications. Portrayed as 35)androgynous creatures in the June issue of W, they affect killer glares, their menace emphasized by their 36)pallor. The vampire’s attraction is “all about the37)titillation of imagining the monsters we could be if we just let ourselves go,” suggested Rick Owens, a fashion 38)bellwether. “We’re all fascinated with corruption, the more glamorous the better.”
打扮成吸血鬼的尤物摆出诱惑的姿势,如疾风般占领了近期的时尚杂志。在六月号的《W》杂志中,这群尤物雌雄莫辨,目露凶光,而惨白的肤色使他们更具威胁感。吸血鬼的吸引力在于“想象自我放纵,化身魔鬼的那一切快感,”时尚先锋尼克•欧文指出,“我们都对堕落着迷,越着迷,越是感到快乐。”
In New Moon, the Twilight 39)sequel that will open in November, the lead vampire Edward is a noble 40)swain, performing feats of 41)valor reserved for Superman. Seductive as he is, he, too, is a model of restraint. More than once in the original film Edward stops short of draining Bella, his mortal girlfriend. “I don’t want to be a monster,” he tells her urgently (though it seems she wouldn’t mind).
将于11月上映的《暮色》续集《新月》中,男主角吸血鬼爱德华是一名高风亮节的情人,所表现出的勇举可媲美超人。他,不仅帅气迷人,也是个节欲典范。在第一部电影里,好几次他想要吸凡人女友贝拉的血,但都及时地悬崖勒马。“我不想成为魔鬼,”他急切地对她说(虽然她并不介意)。
“Edward has rejected all humanity, but he is struggling to be human,” Ms. Plec said, adding: “There is always the question, ‘Does this person have it in him to be good, to make the right decision?’ It’s a theme that works in films and television.”
“爱德华拒绝所有的人类情感,却又挣扎企求人性,”普莱克女士说,她还补充道:“又是老问题:‘他有能力成为一个好人,做出正确的决定吗?’这是电影和电视作品爱发挥的一大主题。”
Impulse-control is an especially 42)resonant theme in the current era of conflicts and cutbacks. “Periods of war, economic downturns and cultural turmoil all give rise to the production of vampire and fantasy fiction,” said Thomas Garza, chair of the department of 43)Slavic and 44)Eurasian studies at the University of Texas at Austin, and a specialist in vampire 45)lore. “With a recession and war, the conflict has indeed seemed to turn inward, as we question our fiscal, political and moral status. ‘Have we been too excessive? Do we need to be more restrained?’ We seem once again to be questioning these very fundamental values.”
在当今这个冲突不断,节衣缩食的年代里,“控制冲动”是个特别容易引起大众共鸣的话题。“战事纷争、经济衰退、文化骚动都促使吸血鬼类作品和魔幻小说走向繁盛,”奥斯丁得克萨斯州大学斯拉夫和欧亚研究部的主席、吸血鬼文化专家托马斯•加尔扎说道,“随着经济衰退和战争的出现,冲突似乎转为内部化,我们开始质问财政、政治和道德现状。‘我们是否太过火了?我们是否需要更克制些呢?’我们似乎再次质疑这些非常基本的价值观。”
And, at the same time, renewing a 46)flirtation with the dark side. Emily Rose, a performance poet in Chicago cataloged vampire’s 47)exquisite charms: “the 48)wantonness, the gorgeousness, eternal youth, 49)invulnerability and, of course, the night life—staying up way past your bedtime.”
同时,对阴暗面的撩拨又被重燃。芝加哥的表演诗人艾米莉•露丝把吸血鬼的独特魅力归纳为:“放荡形骸,奢华惊艳,青春常驻,坚不可摧,当然,还有夜生活——夜深仍可不眠作乐。”
Surely there are worse things. Ms. Rose said. “Having somebody 50)clamp onto your neck and51)drain you — that doesn’t seem so scary anymore.”
“It wouldn’t be on my top 10 list of ways not to die,” she added, “especially if that vampire is at all attractive.”
当然, 也有更糟糕的一面。露丝女士说:“被紧咬脖子和吸干血已经不再是什么恐怖的事情了。”
她还说:“这肯定不会列在我那‘十大要不得之死法’上,尤其要是那个吸血鬼异常英俊的话。”